Silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials (which are abbreviated as "color photographic materials", hereinafter) are roughly divided into negative silver halide color photographic materials represented by color negative films and color papers for printing from color negative films, and internal latent-image type direct positive silver halide color photographic materials. In the past, these color photographic materials have been processed only in large-scale photofinishing laboratories. As for the negative color photographic materials, however, they have come to be processed also in storefronts of photo studios and so on owing to recent development of small-scale processing systems called minilab systems.
On the other hand, internal latent-image type direct positive color photographic materials have come to be increasingly used, e.g., in copying of color originals, and development of novel color copy systems have been undertaken. In addition to their copying use, internal latent-image type direct positive color photographic materials have many uses, e.g., as materials for printing from reversal films, and as materials for photographing directly. Therefore, if the processing with the foregoing minilab system in a storefront occurs, opportunities to use the system speedily and easily can be offered to users.
However, the above-described minilab system is installed in a narrow shop in many cases, so particularly important factors therein are narrowness of the installation area and smallness of the necessary working space.
On the other hand, it has so far been necessary to use processing solutions with different compositions in photographic processing of negative color photographic materials and internal latent-image type color photographic materials. As a result these two types of materials have been processed with separate automatic developing machines. However, it is impossible to install these machines together in a narrow space. This has so far constituted a serious obstacle to the development of storefront processing. Accordingly, it is strongly desired to develop processing methods so as to enable the minaturization of an automatic developing machine for the above described system and to simplify the processing.
With the intention of fulfilling the foregoing requirement, the processing of negative color photographic materials and internal latent-image type color photographic materials with the same automatic developing machine is proposed in JP-A-62-139548 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"). However, the above-proposal only teaches that generally used bromine ion concentrations are suitable also for a color developer to be used in the processing. Furthermore, the proposal is unsuitable for the simplification of the system because the internal latent-image type color photographic materials used are those requiring a photo-fogging treatment during development and, therefore, the automatic developing machine has a complex structure since it must be equipped with an exposure device selective for internal latent-image type color photographic materials, and so on.
JP-A-62-89044 provides another proposal such that overflow of the processing solutions used for negative color photographic materials are reused in processing internal latent-image type color photographic materials. This proposal also cannot be said to contribute to the reduction of space.
When the processing of internal latent-image type silver halide photographic materials and negative silver halide photographic materials was tried according to the same processing steps using the same processing solutions, respectively, in one automatic developing machine, it was found that internal latent-image type silver halide photographic materials were subject to changes in finishing characteristics. In particular, fluctuations in the maximum density and fog were remarkable in that case. Therefore, pressing need for realization of the processing has been to solve the above-described problem.
Although many causes of such fluctuations can be postulated, the main one is attributable to a difference in quantity of developed silver (quantity of metal silver produced in a developer through development) due to the difference of use between an internal latent-image type silver halide photographic material and a negative silver halide photographic material. That is, the quantity of developed silver is appreciably smaller in internal latent-image type silver halide photographic materials than in negative silver halide photographic materials since the former photographic materials are mainly used for copy, and originals to be copied contain many line drawings such as letters, characters and the like. Consequently, the quantities of halogen released from these two types of photographic materials during development are vastly different from each other. In addition, emulsions which are used in the two types of photographic materials, respectively, differ in halogen composition itself in many cases, so that the halogen concentration in the developer is greatly changed by the processing. The above-described difference in quantity of developed silver also gives rise to a change in developing agent concentration. This change in developer composition as described above exerts a particularly remarkable influence upon the characteristic changes of internal latent-image type silver halide photographic materials causing the foregoing problem.
Moreover, preservatives including sulfites and hydroxylamines, which have so far been used in color developers for silver halide color photographic materials, enhance the changes in finishing characteristics of internal latent-image type silver halide photographic materials when fluctuations of halogen and developing agent concentrations, as described above, occur in the processing. As a result, a decrease in the maximum density and an increase in fog occur to a great extent. Accordingly, it has been strongly desired to develop the art of using preservatives which are more suitable for the processing.